Chapter 151 Finishing Up

"What time is it, Ritsuka?" Olivia forked the last piece of bacon into her mouth.

"It's basically 7:30am. What do we do for another half hour?" Ritsuka looked up at Manny and Liz.

"Manny's usually more busy than this so he usually is gone before 7:30 for some Academy Twelve stuff." Liz pointed. She turned to look at him. "Which you don't have today, right?"

"Nope, it's the first day for transfer students, so the Fourth Years are doing something for the students. The usual 'message to all the students' bullcrap." Manny finished his cup of coffee and set the cup down on the finished tray of food.

"This isn't why you didn't get a higher seat. That attitude gets you into trouble." Liz poked at Manny's cheek. Manny turned to bite her finger, watching Liz pull away just before he could even bite it.

"Asshole." Liz slapped him.

"What does that make you then?"

"Smarter than an asshole." Liz smiled. Lee Seng finished his food and wiped his mouth. He moved to join the two plates together and then set the napkin on top. He leaned back and sighed.

"I'm going to get fat if I eat good meals like this everyday." Lee Seng patted his stomach. Manny narrowed his eyes and Lee Seng and shook his head.

"Says the guy who runs like four miles a day." Manny's face soured. "I don't know how you can eat to your heart's content and still have that smokin' of a body."

"You ate a lot for breakfast." Ritsuka added.

"And I'll probably eat just as much for lunch and dinner." Lee Seng smiled. "Speaking of running, are there trails I can run around here? I'll probably end up running before classes start or something."

"You're literally the same person still. You run religiously and you eat as much as three people." Manny pointed. Lee Seng smiled and reached for his phone in his pocket. He scrolled through his social media accounts. He had followed a ton of popular adventurers and some celebrity-turned adventurers on their socials. The sights of different parts of the world intrigued him and reminded him he could be doing the same thing one day.

Enough time had passed that everyone was sitting with empty trays. Lee Seng closed his phone and tuned back into the conversation. The group had switched from school-related things to likes and dislikes.

"What about you, Lee Seng?" Ritsuka tapped. Lee Seng sat up and tucked his phone into his pocket.

"What about me?" Lee Seng asked.

"What's some likes and dislikes you have?"

"Hmmm..." Lee Seng thought aloud. "I guess I like jogging, parkour, training, and cooking."

"Oh, you like cooking? I wouldn't have thought you to be the cooking type." Liz commented. "What's your go-to dishes? And would you ever consider cooking for us?"

"Go-to dishes...? I guess this stir fried ground beef and tomatoes dish along with stir fried ground sausage."

"You must like stir fried dishes alot, huh?" Olivia asked.

"Comfort dishes my mom used to make for me when I was little." Lee Seng nodded. "Akio ate a lot of mom's cooking so he remembers the recipes. He taught me how to make them. I also make some Japanese food from time to time."

"Ahh, that's cool." Liz smiled.

"I don't want to ask this private question, so if it makes you uncomfortable, you don't need to answer it, but... Is your mom still around?" Olivia asked. Manny turned to look at Olivia and then turned back to look at Lee Seng. Lee Seng felt the usual sadness creep at him, but he pushed through it and shook his head.

"I guess you really don't live around Capitol City." Lee Seng gave a somber smile. "My mom passed away four years ago. She was the best nurse in the whole city. Always working or doing community service. She dragged me around so a lot of people knew who I was because of her."

"Ahh, your mom must've had a big heart to serve the community and be a nurse."

"Mmmhm." Lee Seng kept his somber smile on. Ritsuka glanced at his watch and stood up.

"Well, we should get to the academic building." Ritsuka cleared his throat. Everyone began to stand and grab their things. Lee Seng stood and moved his tail out of the arm chair hole and grabbed his backpack. He slipped it on and grabbed his things and pushed his chair in before following Manny and Liz over to the dish area.

Lee Seng set his things into the rotating dish container and moved to the front exit where all the students were now filtering into. He followed the large crowd of Third Years down the hallway, all turning left. They were all going to exit out of one of the many back exits/entrances. The walk to the academic took about ten minutes following all of the other Third Years. Manny peeked behind him and saw Lee Seng staring at the space around them.

"Hey, we're almost there. Stick close, 'kay?" Manny poked at Lee Seng. Lee Seng's eyes settled on Manny and he simply nodded. Manny turned back and glanced at Liz.

"What?" Liz asked. "Something up?" She began to turn to look at Lee Seng but Manny quickly forced her head to look straight.

"Nothing. Just leave him alone. He's spacing." Manny told her.

"You know why? Was it because of that question about his Mom?"

"I'm not sure. I lost touch with him shortly after all of that. He could just have slipped into his more quiet state."

Lee Seng followed the group of students up the steps of the academic building. People began to split and head to homeroom. Lee Seng followed Liz and Manny in front of him while Ritsuka, Evan and Olivia followed him. They moved down the hall until the hit the cafeteria. They turned right and followed the hall all the way to the end and took another right. Lee Seng watched the plaque room numbers slowly climb up.

Liz and Manny moved to the right and stopped. Lee Seng and the others followed as Manny and Liz turned around.

"Evan and Ritsuka's homeroom should be on the left a little bit further." Liz pointed.

"Alright, I guess we'll see you guys after homeroom?" Evan pointed at Lee Seng and Olivia.

"Mmm, let's walk together, Lee Seng." Olivia suggested. Lee Seng nodded and the group waved at their goodbyes before splitting.

"Alright, let's go in." Manny sarcastically spoke before Liz swatted at him. The two of them moved in Lee Seng and Olivia trailing behind Liz and Manny into the similar looking classroom he had peeked into when Ritsuka and him were looking for their classes. The classroom mimicked a regular high school room. A large technological white board in the front of the room with the current time in the middle of the board. A moveable podium sat off to the side of the room. The desks were paired in twos and Manny and Liz picked ones on the opposite side of the door. They sat together and Lee Seng moved to sit right behind them.

"I'll sit with you then." Olivia smiled.

"Mmm." Lee Seng answered. He pulled his backpack off and set it on the desk. He leaned his head against the wall and yawned. Olivia sat with her backpack on the desk and turned to look at Lee Seng.

"Nervous? I'm kinda nervous right now. All these students are finally going to see us." Olivia spoke. Lee Seng turned to face her and nodded. He could tell she was nervous. She was playing with the zippers on her backpack.

"Kinda. People probably know who I am, so that's a lot to handle." Lee Seng nervously nodded.

"Mmm, a big name like yours does draw attention even when you don't want it to, huh?" Olivia realized. Lee Seng was drawing his own conclusions on the people he had befriended. They had interacted at the exam, but quickly decided to befriend each other due to their transfer status. They were outsiders who were coming into the Academy, so usually those people just stuck together.

Olivia's personality seemed to be very blunt and straightforward. She reacted in the way her emotions went. Lee Seng still hung around her because he wondered if a more concrete personality would come out if they stayed friends for a long time.

Olivia's straightforwardness added with her easily readable emotions made it easy for Lee Seng to understand her at face value. She was someone Lee Seng wished he had met sooner.

"I guess you get used to it after awhile." Lee Seng shrugged.

"I don't think I could ever get used to it. You handle yourself well." Olivia had complimented him. She thought of Lee Seng as a person who had a great handle on himself.

'If only you knew what it was like in my head.' Lee Seng thought.

"Mmm, thanks. I try to handle myself well." The bell rang and a familiar face entered the room. Icarus strolled into the room and parked himself in front of the white board. He placed two large boxes in front of him on the table and leaned up against the white board.

"Alright, homeroom has begun." Mr. Icarus spoke.